Love KFC

The first was finding out of this odd promotion being run by KFC here in Ireland, known as Love KFC. In return for offering vouchers for two regular meals for a tenner, people can submit their names for a possible new limited-edition burger. I decided for a laugh to put the bear in, in the off-chance that he somehow manages to win it by using his cuteness and charm across his social media outlets on his blog, Twitter and Facebook.

But now towards the end of the day. I get the feeling that this is going to turn into a popularity contest over the funniest and weirdest burger name, rather than helping based on the person themselves. Case in point, the bear managed to grab 200 impressions in the first day and was quite out in front for a while, until a wave of retweeting on Twitter which started with Mulley means that the “Human Centipede Burger” is now king…

ETF2L

The other thing was a practice match with some of the college folk in Team MonG for the ETF2L Highlander competition starting up soon. Y’know, the one where you can earn fancy badges to put onto your TF2 characters in-game so long as you complete your group matches. Well, we had a good match tonight, but the one thing that really pissed me the fuck off about the opposing team was their Natascha Heavy.

This weapon is 25% weaker than the Heavy’s regular Minigun, but when it hits it slows their speed down to a crawl, thus making them easier to hit with more bullets and keeping them massively slow. Under normal public circumstances, Heavies generally can’t go on a rampage as much since there’s so much more that can take them out, like multiple Snipers, or a hail of Soldier rocket spam. But in a Highlander environment, the single Soldier can’t do enough damage to take out the Heavy while he’s being healed by his Medic, the Sniper’s being taken out before he can kill the Heavy, and the Spy can do nothing as he’s convinced the enemy Heavy was using sound mods to more easily hear our Spy decloak.

It was especially infuriating for me since I was playing the Scout, the really fast moving class, and it was as if everywhere I turned that damn Heavy was there and I was dead no matter what. Even the enemy Scout, while annoyingly good, wasn’t as rage-inducing as this Heavy. Seriously, Valve really do need to nerf it soon. Reduce the speed cut on hit, reduce the chances for the speed cut, anything to make this damn weapon a lot less usable that it is…

Ugh, I’m off before I end up trolling somewhere with either of these rants…

Seriously, mush. I’ll pop up some pictures and things, and some of them might even show up there before Crispy even gets up off his ass and puts them up on the stuff pages!

Although tbh, there’s not really much to talk about. Monday was spent sitting around while the Registry fished me out of the lake somewhere somehow. Tuesday figuring out what I need to do in order to get enough credits to be able to officially complete second year. Wednesday abusing the LapLan. Thursday actually going to an actual lecture. Friday hanging at home since I had nothing. I feel just like a CA1 with the Fridays off, but then again like so much more since I’m a CASE2 and I technically have Tuesdays and Wednesdays free

Although Wednesday is the big technically, since it’s my job to be in college setting up the consoles, seeing as I am Console Ents for the year. I’m just hoping that we eventually manage to sort out a room, after whatever Slowpokes moved the Mezz into the seminar room, thus forcing us to look elsewhere. Made even worse by the fact that at this point in time, all that’s there is a bunch load of spare tables, the center area installed, and a bunch-load more crap just stored there. If you weren’t going to complete it in time, why’d you even fucking start

The Dunboyne motor festival took place last weekend, which I went to for a little bit. I briefly presented myself at the barbeque Saturday night before heading back with Chinese food instead, seeing as I was there by myself in a crowd of about four hundred people enjoying themselves together (since when could you fit so many into Brady’s backyard?!?!), feeling a little awkward and out of place. I missed the bike run on Sunday as I left the house quite late (damn you F1 re-run!), but made it in time for the car run. Managed to record all the cars as they went around Mulvaney’s corner and I really should actually go make that into a video, but that’s for another time when I’m not so busy.
Oh, and the bear got a snap with Niall. I’ll definitely have to upload that soon

This week has been really tiring and busy so far. From discovering that the main teacher of Languages and Computability really had said in the first lecture: "I’m your teacher, but I’m a lazy ass, and as such I’m forcing these postgrad slaves to teach you instead while I go sit in my office and torrent the entire Internet while playing Spider Solitaire", or something along those lines, and that one of your teachers is a Chinese postgrad who can barely speak English (snore-fest tbh – needed an insane amount of Lucozade to keep me awake…), and then the madness that were Clubs and Socs days (that’s for another post!), I’m absolutely wrecked. A 10am lecture in the morning doesn’t help, especially as that means I need to be up at about half seven and out on the 8.15am 70A to even have a remote chance of making it.

Also, I want to take this opportunity to bitch about the lack of 70 from town between the 2120 and 2320 each night. I want to be home at a reasonable hour after traditional gaming (and maybe some other stuff) in the evenings, and although the 2120 gets me home around ten, I would prefer a 2220 service to get me home around eleven. While I may not necessarily get it on trad gaming nights, it would be brilliant for lab gaming, film nights or anime nights so I don’t have to up and leave in the middle of something epic… Sake, Dublin Bus, do you ever think of the people in Dunboyne rather than just your profits?

The Links

Alan’s getting the Leaving Cert shits. I can only sit back and titter in the corner

Procrastination, only more epic than me.

Despite what Darragh thinks, this is so going to happen.

Epic flash game. (via Vic)

The Pics

Now do you get the reason behind Baby Bear? (via Le Craic)

The Vids

I think we’ve all seen this by now. If not, where the fuck have you been?

And everyone should have seen Real Life Twitter by now as well.

Anyways the foiur of us (yes, I said four! Cream Babe even came alomg, alrhough r\ther reluctantly) were aound the /Clubs qans Socs yesterday and we decided tp pick one guy who wqas running and give them our personql endorsememnt. So, after some deliberation, by threataning Clean with dirt, telling wrong he was right to do so, and just starin gdown Cream long eniugh to gwt him to agree with me, we now officially support Andrew in his queast for the Xasmpains and Information job thuingie. Woo!

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Now all we have to do is get some student cards ansd learn how to write, so we can axtually vote…

(Translation: OK, Crispy hasn’t exactly been paying too much attention to this blog recently, so I’ve decided it’s a perfect time for me to come on and post pictures of myself! Why? Because I can!)

Me with Martha Rptter at Tech Week
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Me bein the Art Intervarsity trophy!
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Me winning the Blog Post of rhe Month! (OK, it was Darragh D?oyle’s…)
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I is famous bloggere now!

* Note from the ranter: Learn to spell properly and maybe you can post more…

So, recently Baby Bear jumped at the chance to get a picture with Rick O’Shea. Yes, that particular 2FM DJ who we are all trying to get the banter and proper public integration back on the show.

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The bear now owes me for making an entire whole post about this…

http://thedw.us/post/63006115/move-over-moon-landing-m-a-t-and-k-m-s-are-the

Move over moon landing: M.A.T and K.M.S are the first teddy bears in space.

Cuddly astronauts M.A.T and K.M.S and two bear colleagues were decked out in custom-made space suits and blasted 19 miles above Earth on a two-hour expedition. […]

The teddy bears had to endure temperatures of -53C but had special spacesuits made by school children from the nearby Parkside and Coleridge community colleges. This stopped them from freezing solid on their epic trip.

The aim of the experiment was to determine which materials provide the best insulation against the freezing temperatures experienced on the flight.

Mr Hallam said: ‘We asked the children to build the space suits for the teddy bears and we monitored the temperatures inside and outside the suits.

‘The project was all about applying science into the real world. I think it’s taught them a lot about running a real experiment.’

I think it’s to the theme of “Oh, Mandy”

Oh Washy,
You came and were plumbed by the family,
And now I dread needing cleaning,
Oh Washy.
With your programs all sudsy and spinny,
I nearly drown every time,
Oh Washy.

Methinks he doesn’t like the washing machine…

Baby Bear for US president.

That is all.

If you were seriously expecting something worthwhile to appear here, then I’m afraid you are sorely mistaken. I don’t give much of a crap about the election, I wouldn’t care if it happened completely in the background. But unfortunately everyone seems to be going on about it, and as such my head is over inflated with all this crap, and so I have to deal with it until it gets to the point where I have to vent my feelings about the situation.

Hence the rant.

Or half rant, or whatever it is.

Now go out, and don’t vote for your Democrat or your Republican, vote for your Fluffy and help get Baby Bear into office

Grandad spent a while finding a decent Internet Café to post an update from. He’d have been better off staying in the first place and spending more time online…

The Windows Live search bot is still being annoying and causing plenty of unnecessary logs… Given that it’s bot doesn’t give a proper spider user agent, it gets treated as a visitor, a pageview, and a search result – when all it should be in is a spider hit… God’s sake, don’t make me block it…

Cream Babe is continuing his reign of terror over the other Baby Bears. “His Creaminess” is taking full advantage of the care that is needed around him to keep him creamy that he’s now abusing the other bears and liking the fact that they can’t retaliate…

I guess that big Hadron Collider thing hasn’t made a black hole yet as we’re still alive. However, keep checking this site and their feed, for updates on whether the Earth has been destroyed yet

My LEGO bits arrived yesterday, and I’ve now finished optimizing my race car
Pics as soon as I could be bothered to take them…

And, let’s finish with some epic pics from ICHC:

Yea, I’ll do better next time.

PS: Don’t forget my downtime tomorrow (Friday) night, from around 10pm my time.

The arrival

It was after coming back from dropping Aoife to her first day back at school (3rd class – and don’t expect a big post about that…) and the morning shop, when the post arrived. Along with a couple of bills was a blue package addressed to me, originating from the UK. It was then that it clicked that it had to be the new Baby Bear arriving from eBay! I’m so glad that although the auction had ended that the bear hadn’t been sold off!

Right and Clean were very curious as to what the new bear would be like, and were trying to tear at the package to open it, but as they didn’t have any claws, it was to no avail. So they had to wait until later, once Aoife had returned and everyone was here and ready to open it, that they could find out what sort of bear was in the bag…

The opening

It was a very excited Aoife moreso than the bears who tore into the packaging. Although it was very hard to open (folded over and then taped shut), we eventually managed to get it off to reveal the new member of the Baby Bear family. Out came a very clean, plushy and creamy-coloured bear. Although the nickname I had in mind for him was “Minty Bear” (owing to the fact that he was more mint-condition than the others), my sister and mother settled on the name “Cream Babe”. Since he was creamy, unlike the others.

Cream Babe fit into the family very quickly, and soon got to grips with life in the house – which usually involved sitting and/or laying around waiting to be picked up and had stuff done with.

Cream Babe seems taller and bigger than the other bears, although it seems to be because his polyester fluff is still, well, fluffy and hasn’t settled or been squashed, unlike the other three. Although a side-effect of this is that he can’t seem to be able to clap his hands…

Right Babe and Cream Babe comparison

The plot

Please note that this part wasn’t actually a figment of my mind (for once). It was actually something my mother came up with as the other three bears were being bleached in the sink before going in the washing machine.

However, all was not as it appeared to be. Secretly, Clean Babe’s plushy and creamy exterior hid a dark demonic bear inside. After bleaching himself very cream and making himself extremely plushy and soft, Cream Babe plotted a way to get rid of the rest of the Babes, and take the title of Number One Bear (since he would be the only one left), and then enjoy the comforts of doing everything I do (within reason).

His evil plan to remove the Baby Bears involved hypnotizing my mother into demanding that the bears needed to be soaked and bleached before being washed in the dreaded washing machine. It all went according to plan as the three Babes were thrown into the bathroom sink full of hot water, washing-up liquid, and bleach.

Will the Babes survive drowning in the nightmare sink? If so, will they survive the dreaded washing machine?

The climax

Of course they will, they’re polyester teddy bears… If they weren’t capable of surviving a washing machine, how would they have lasted the past 9 years?

Anyway, catch all the Cream Babe pics and more in the Baby Bear album in the Stuff gallery.

Auction #1: Northumberland Bear

The first auction originates from Northumberland in the UK. This particular one is very “Clean Babe” in appearance, in the way that he appears to be a lot “pudgier” than the others. Looks slightly shorted than the other bears, which is likely made up for by the extra “depth”. Label looks intact and only slightly frayed at the end. Smile also looks a little off-centre.

The auction unfortunately ended July 16th, so I’m hoping that the bear hasn’t been sold off yet!

Auction #2: Ipswich Bear

The second bear originates from Ipswich. This particular bear has a very “Right Babe” look and style to it. The ears look a lot more pronounced, although that may be due to the fact that the other bears always have them “folded down”. The right-hand side arm also looks to hang out at a funny angle in comparison. Label looks short, but is intact!

This bear’s auction ended around August 18th, but was relisted for another auction which ended only last Saturday! It should be highly likely that the bear is still available for purchase, and I sure as hell hope it is!

UPDATE (28th August, 2pm IST): I bought him!

I’ll make sure to let you guys know all of the details about how well the process of acquiring these bears are
Until then, enjoy some “classic” Baby Bear in the Stuff gallery

Home

Things going better, still slightly autocratic, but not as much as before. Got to watch TV alone for the past hour
Guy from Magnet coming Monday to fix patch panel thingy (the hub where the fibre-optic ends and turns into CAT-5 that’s pre-wired through the house) – we sort of had to break open the door because they put a cover over it and locked it without supplying us with a key

Pics

Took some pics today – rainy window, Baby Bear antics, new version of that Lego car, and new avatar
Remind me to upload them to my gallery/hosting tomorrow!

Hosting

The attempted move to Blacknight on Friday didn’t go according to plan… Seems my website backup wasn’t as recent as I had hoped for
DNS is back to GoDaddy for the time being, I’ll try and switch back over sometime next week!

Monies

Since I put Baby Bear’s little ad space, they’ve actually made quite a bit
Maybe it was a good idea to put some on, at least it can help pay for the hosting

Yea, umm that’s all I can think of… Gotta run, 7 minutes of power left!

PS: The post title, is one of my favourite voice taunts from Age of Empires 2

Recovering from it all, is kinda the hard part. After trying my best not to conk out, I eventually did under the soothing sounds of misses frets, and chords on Guitar Hero. I blame my lack of change to buy Coke and Lucozade from the vending machine. I really should have added that to the caffeine log portion of the BYOPC site, but no-one used it since we didn’t even have Internet connection for half of it

One thing that did surprise me was the amount of other people who came with what appeard to be normal laptop computers. They weren’t up to the gaming standards of dedicated gaming laptops, and were put to shame by some of the desktops (including, I think, an Alienware Area 51!) , but they still ran some of the stuff. I didn’t even try to take part in the CS:S competition with mine, but Seán (Revenant) was kind enough to loan me his spare laptop to play on. Very thankful that he did, since I was able to play at 20fps on a normal map and during firefights – unlike my current rig….

Anyway, a load more stuff happened, but I don’t think it’s really necessary to describe them all in detail, but anyway:

• CS:S tourney went shit, our team drew opening match when had 10 rounds to win it – and lost the second match after keeping the score in check through the first half. We do not do good as CT
• Baby Bear finally met Kev (Kat’s little teddy cat, who creepily has his own Bebo page…)
• Cheap pizza – Domino’s in Glasnevin do a sweet deal: Large pizza and 2 Garlic Breads for €15!
• Getting to play some Guitar Hero 2 with others who aren’t as skilled at the game. Although I find Hard to be impossible – although it might seem that I could do it, since I got over 100k on some song. Think it was Shout at the Devil….
• There were some fun Worms World Party matches as well. Didn’t take part though, firstly as I was sleeping for the start of it, and secondly I don’t have World Party – which reminds me, where did my copy of Armageddon go?

And other stuff I can’t think of right now….

Anyway this morning was fun, came back around half 10 to unload my stuff, re-heat my leftover pizza for breakfast and then go back down to the Venue to help clear up all the stuff. What really happened is I unloaded my stuff, sat down on the bed, then proceeded to lie down on the bed and fall asleep. Not really according to plan, I must admit.

So yea, since then I’ve been trying to get back to normal. Although it’s hard to consider it normal given there are lab exams and assignments about. Especially later on today, when I have the Assembly Language lab exam. Screwed-ish, methinks. I just hope I can get up early enough to be able to go to the lab before the exam and put HelpPC and all the programs he ever sent us onto my H: drive (drive space given to you to store whatever you want, accessible from all lab computers) before the exam. Since it’s semi-open book we can use our H: drive – now I just hope it can practically carry me through the exam.

Then, hopefully, head back home to see family and get food and cash (BYOPC drained my wallet) and come back on Tuesday morning in fits over the Haskell lab exam later on that day. After out class-wide complaint about the first exam, we got a response saying we were supposed to know it and to go screw ourselves. OK, maybe not exactly that, but you get the gist of it. Either way, must get the 70% this time round!

Anyway, need bed now. Is 4am (still out of sync with the normal sleep cycle thanks to BYOPC), and my Assembly exam is at 1pm. Poopy. 5-6 hours sleep, a bit of cramming, some Berocca (fancy revitalizing vitamin stuff) and food, then put stuff on H: drive and hope for the best! And if everything doesn’t go so well, then there’s always Baby Bear to take it out on

Of course, that wouldn’t fare well for business – or my job

At least good old Paddy was there to do my shop run for me. He must realise I’m never able to go there myself cos every time he goes during one of his marathon internet sessions – he asks me if I want anything.

Well, maybe he needs some work on the locations of everything in Spar – yesterday I asked him to get me a King Pot Noodle for my lunch, preferably Curry flavour (I even told him exactly where to get them) – and he comes back with a non-King Pot Rice. At least he got Curry flavour.

Anyway, back to this morning – I realised the bitch machine had brought in a letter addressed to me and not told me. It was from 3V, apparently I had a voucher with €20 on it that expired at the end of January. So attached was a cheque for €17.50 (by know you should know they charge €2.50 to get back any funds on it) – so now I kinda have to lodge money into my student bank account.

It’s odd – I opened the student account at the start of the semester. I tried to put money into it a few days later and was told it hadn’t been fully activated yet. So I left it there. Since then I’ve received the ATM card for it, but never used it (well once to change my PIN but apart from that, haven’t used it at all) – which reminds me, I’ll need to put €20 into the account for the yearly Government levy on ATM/Debit cards.

So yea, I think I’m gonna have to drag myself to the bank (handily on campus ) and lodge that cheque and another €100 that is my current 360 fund. Otherwise, I can guarantee you I’m gonna spend it on crap.

That’s what the ads say at least. It also kinda gets hard to believe that those pots of scrummy goodness are only 5% fat (the new ads about that fact dig in!) – like that really matters. What really matters is that they are both yummy and deadly to stupid teddys.

Oh, and back at home, the side entrance to the estate is a lot different than it was before….

Last night, whilst watching the re-runs of the WSOP Circuit Events on Challenge – I was eating a Pot Noodle. I can get quite addicted to them, and even munch down 3 of them in one evening (not good for the bank balance at €1.39 each!). What surprises me though is that it’s Nice and Spicy flavoured boiling water, soya pieces, dried veg, noodles and so-called “Spicy” sweet mango chutney can be very deadly when a certain stupid teddy bear comes roaming around the pot.

You see, I told you Wrong Babe was stupid – there’s the proof. Upon seeing it he decided to get a closer look and end up falling in. Needless to say he got the washing machine treatment later on (they hate the washing machine, and the dryer, and being hung up on the washing line outside).

Anyway, back to the estate – it seems that during last night either one of two things happened:

• The security company came to their senses and took down the gates closing off the entrance
• Someone did what I’ve always wanted to do and break them down!

I think the second option is the more likely, as the (newly bent) gates were on the grass next to the little security “office” chalet – which itself had a broken window. Hopefully now the side entrance will now be always open instead of just from 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday. Handy since taking that exit cuts the time it takes me to walk to the village in half.